~*~ Finn ~*~

Having found out that Joe's episode of Metal Hurlant was called Masters of Destiny, I decided to ask one of my comic-geek friends to scan me a copy. Behind the cut are some spoilers, a story outline (but I haven't given the ending away) and images from some of the better scans.

Masters of Destiny is the first story in Vol 10 of Metal Hurlant and will be the sixth episode in the first season of Metal Hurlant Chronicles. Joe will be playing the lead - a Space Hunter called Hondo (well, it's nearly that coveted role as Han Solo!) As the whole story revolves around Hondo, Joe should dominate the screen time in this episode.

These are the original credits on the Masters of Destiny story. (click through for larger images)




(The title is cut down to make the image for Episode 6 on http://www.metalhurlantchronicles.com/)

 Hondo is part of a team of two thousand mercenaries sent out into deep space to destroy the monstrous Hydras that are terrorising and destroying ships and planets. After a year of battle, Hondo and his co-pilot Khull are the last men of that team, fighting a final battle with the last Hydra.






As the space ship is rocked by the battle the men share plans for after the battle is won. Hondo (a man will no seeming connections or home) intends to party on the nearest planet; Khull is intending to return home and buy a ‘space palace’ for his wife and children. The men fatally wound the last Hydra, but in its death throes it spears the cockpit of the space ship and fatally injures Khull.




 
As Khull is dying he shares his regret at the year he has spent away from a family that he will never see again. Hondo tells him that he wasn’t to know it would end this way, and then Khull shares a secret - that he could have known if he had been brave enough to ask…
 
Khull has met the mythical creatures that know a man’s fate and can tell him the day of his death. The creatures live on a distant planet called Ghalthar, but Khull had not had the courage to go to go to their Great Hall and ask them about his future. As Hondo watches his friend’s life slip away, he decides to use his reward to buy a new spaceship and travel to Ghalther to discover his fate.




 
In the great hall of Ghalther, Hondo discovers his has exactly six years to live - and saves the life of a beautiful thief called Skarr.








The mercenary and the thief leave together, determined to join forces in one last heist before living their last years in a  life of hedonism.


(You might recognise this scan as the header of the 'Episodes' section on http://www.metalhurlantchronicles.com/)


Their days are happy, but still passing. They seem to be true partners - but when the end is near, can a thief and a mercenary ever change their natures and accept their fate? Or will they always believe that they can beat the odds...